I have a 2000 ford expedition xlt 2wd, about a year and a half ago, i started hearing a ticking noise coming from the engine, it sounded like it was coming from the drivers side head, due to my financial situation i was not able to have it checked out and repaired, i always changed my oil on time and serviced my trans due to my high mileage, when this problem started i had about 90.000 miles on the truck, well about five months ago the ticking noise got louder and it sounded like a had a leak also coming out of the drivers side exhaust manifold, i was told maybe i would have to re shim the heads and replace the gaskets for the exhaust maninfolds and it would solve my problem, well about a week ago i left my house went to a copy shop , came out and started the truck, it sounded like i was being shot at!! the explosion noise was pretty loud, then it smelled like something was burning, i shut the engine off and then restarted it and the truck sounded like a helicopter!! the truck now as 123k miles on it , I never really had a problem with this truck till now, I had a close friend inspect the engine and saw that the first plug on the drivers side head had shot out and broke the coil pack with it, the screw and tab that is part of the coil pack was still bolted onto the head!! the plug was just sitting there! now when he took off the air intake he saw that there was a lot of oil in the intake manifold, he suggested that the rings on the pistions were bad allowing the oil to come into the intake through the pcv valve???? also he used a tap bit of 14mm and 1.25 metric for the threads of the plugs to rethread the plug, ( was this a bad idea ??) well after he rethreaded the hole the plug seemed to stay in place but when we restarted the engine we saw it was still popping like crazy and he suggested also the the intake maninfold gaskets were leaking ?? we noticed when we replaced the plug that shot out that the thread on it was not as long as the thread on the bosch platinum plugs i purchased to replace these plugs with, within the last year i only replaced the plugs and not the coil packs once again due to my financial situation, so my dads friends also suggested that due to the wrong plugs being installed it caused this problem, now there were ford motorcraft plugs that were installed but the guy at the pep boys parts store told us that the thread on the plug that shout out was not long enough as it should have been, so i was given the wrong plugs back then which sucks!! now heres the biggest question, my dads friends suggested to me that he would rebuild the motor for me for free but that i would need to buy all the parts, rod bearings main bearings , oil pump, timing chain, guide for timing chain, water pump, head gaskets, 2 camshafts, timing cover gaskets, i already have the head gaskets, exhaust manifold gaskets, the shims all 16, plugs, and 8 new coil packs, oil pan gasket , and so on for the little things, now considering what it would cost for parts compared to replacing engine, what would be my best bet here?????????
i need help with this decision since i cant afford a new truck, i have also the tech books from the dealer for the year 2000 for my truck both volumes to assist him with this rebuild, they cost me about 190.00 off ebay.

this is the first time i am posting here so i hope the members can help me out, i am really screwed here!!!

 

Oil in the intake is normal. My wife's 4.6L has a coating of oil in the intake. Forget that.

Get an insert put in the head, it can be done with the head on the engine. Timesert and others make inserts for these heads that are pretty "easy" to put in if you have any mechanical ability.

Letting it tap like that, you ignored the obvious signs of a loose plug and BANGO.

Forget all the other "intake leak" comments.

You put Bosch platinums in there? who did the work? Did you use a torque wrench, and anti-sieze on the threads to get the correct torque?

 

you will need a insert. www.timeserts.com

 

I have a 2002 5.4 liter engine that blew the spark plug out also. It is because of the cheap thin aluminum head. The threads will strip out very easily. My wife has a 2003 Lincoln Aviator with the 4.6 liter engine and threads were trashed by just removing the spark plug on two cylinders. Ford knows this is a problem but will not own up to it. You can put a helli coil (check spelling) in that cylinder, but is considered a temp fix. Ford recommends replacement of the head at $1500.

 

what a bunch of craap i need to change my plugs soon and im scared now cuzz i dont want to destroy my cyl heads because of fords cost cutting!! i really hoped they would stand behind their products better. big putz... i agree with above... forget about all othe leak talk just do the correct coil fix buy new coil packs and be done..